Arnold Toynbee
Not the same as Arnold Toynbee, economist and nephew of Arnold Joseph Toynbee
British educator Arnold Joseph Toynbee noted cyclical patterns in the growth and decline of civilizations for his 12-volume
Study of History
(1934-1961).
He went to Winchester college and Balliol college, Oxford.
During both world wars, he worked for the foreign office. He additionally published
Nationality and the War
(1915),
The Armenian Atrocities: The Murder of a Nation
(1915),
The German Terror in France: An Historical Record
(1917), and
Turkey, a Past and a Future
(1917). He attended the peace conference of Paris in 1919 as a delegate.
From 1919 to 1924, Arnold J. Toynbee served as professor of modern Greek and Byzantine at King's college, London. From 1925, Oxford University Press published
The Survey of International Affairs
under the auspices of the royal institute of international affairs, and Toynbee, professor, oversaw the publication. From 1925, Toynbee served as research professor and director at the royal institute of international affairs. He published
The Conduct of British Empire Foreign Relations since the Peace Settlement
(1928).
His first marriage to Rosalind Murray produced three sons and ended in divorce in 1946. Toynbee, professor, then married Veronica M. Boulter, his research assistant. He published
Civilization on Trial
(1948).
Toynbee served as research professor and director at the royal institute of international affairs until 1955.
People published best known lectures of Toynbee, professor, in memory of Adam Gifford as
An Historian's Approach to Religion
(1956). His massive work examined development and decay. He presented the rise and fall rather than nation-states or ethnic groups. According to his analysis, the welfare depends on ability to deal successfully with challenges.
He also published
Democracy in the Atomic Age
(1957),
Christianity among the Religions of the World
(1958), and
Between Niger and Nile
(1965).
He died in York, North Yorkshire, England.
“Society is the total network of relations between human beings. The components of society are thus not human beings but relations between them.”
“Schism in the soul, schism in the body social, will not be resolved by any scheme to return to the good old days (archaism), or by programs guaranteed to render an ideal projected future (futurism), or even by the most realistic, hardheaded work to weld together again the deteriorating elements [of civilization]. Only birth can conquer death―the birth, not of the old thing again, but of something new.”
“The human race’s prospects of survival were considerably better when we were defenseless against tigers than they are today when we have become defenseless against ourselves.”
“The only real struggle in the history of the world...is between the vested interest and social justice.”
“America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room. Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.”
“Militarism has been by far the commonest cause of the breakdown of civilizations. The single art of war makes progress at the expense of all the arts of peace.”
“Civilizations die from suicide, not by murder.”